MAG Insights

The payments ecosystem is built on ubiquity and consistent standards, and the MAG continues to be a key player in discussions with the standards bodies that impact payments.  The MAG is involved with these standards bodies to drive innovation in the payments space and ensure merchants can operate in an efficient and competitive marketplace.  Most merchants ask who these different bodies are, why should merchants be interested in them, and how can merchants get involved.  I will walk you through these standards bodies and answer those questions.

There are several standards organizations involved in the payments ecosystem. Below is a short summary of each.  For more information, click on the organization name and it will link you to their website.

EMVCo

EMVCo is a global technical body that facilitates worldwide interoperability and acceptance of secure card payment transactions by managing and evolving the EMV Specifications and related testing processes.

EMVCo was formed in 1999 to enable the development and management of specifications to address the challenge of creating global interoperability amongst different countries and to deliver the adoption of secure technology to combat card fraud while enabling innovation in the payments industry.

EMVCo is collectively owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay, and Visa. Generally, the standards of EMVCo are incorporated into the network rules and there is no enforcement beyond the rules of the networks.

X9

X9, officially called ASC (Accredited Standards Committee) X9, is accredited by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) to develop and maintain voluntary consensus standards for the financial services industry.  X9 has five subcommittees that are responsible for approximately 130 standards.  X9 also represents the United States on two ISO technical committees; TC68 (Financial Services) and TC321 (Transaction Assurance in E-Commerce) and their subcommittees including supporting ISO 20022 and ISO 8583, the payment message specifications.

PCI

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) is a global forum for the ongoing development, enhancement, storage, dissemination, and implementation of security standards for account data protection. PCI’s role is to enhance global payment account data security by developing standards and supporting services that drive education, awareness, and effective implementation by stakeholders. They achieve this with a strategic framework to guide their decision-making process and ensure that every initiative is aligned with PCI’s mission and supports the needs of the global payments industry.

All merchants know PCI because of the assessment that is required of the adherence to the PCI DSS standards.  

W3C

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops standards and guidelines to help everyone build a web based on principles of accessibility, internationalization, privacy, and security.  W3C standards are voluntary.  W3C was founded in 1994 under the urging of companies that were investing in the web to foster a consistent architecture and robust web standards. W3C works with constituents in various ways like public review of specifications, community groups, and events.  

nexo

nexo Standards enables fast, interoperable and borderless payments acceptance by standardizing the exchange of payments acceptance data between merchants, acquirers, payments service providers, and other payments stakeholders. nexo’s messaging protocols and specifications adhere to the ISO 20022 standards, are universally applicable, and are freely available globally.

nexo Standards is an open, global association dedicated to removing the barriers present in today’s fragmented global payments acceptance ecosystem. Headquartered in Brussels, its members represent the full spectrum of payments stakeholders, including acceptors (including merchants), processors, schemes, payments service providers, and vendors.  

Now that you know more about these organizations, why should merchants care about these groups and engage?  Imagine a world where payments systems were not integrated, and every payment type had a different specification and way of processing.  Instead of integrating with one processor, you would be forced to integrate with several processors.  But wait, aren’t we living in that reality now? The answer is yes, but it could be worse, and these standards bodies try to bring the ecosystem into alignment.  

Without merchant engagement, standards will be set by the banks, processors, and networks. That is why it is important that we stay engaged, informed, and involved.  As a merchant, it is hard to keep up to date on all the standards and rules, but if you don’t, your systems will become outdated, and you run the risk of jeopardizing your customer experience.  Each of the standards organizations provides opportunities for merchants to engage:

• EMVCo has an Associates program which has a fee to participate
• X9 allows any company in the U.S. to join one of four membership categories with corresponding fees
• PCI allows members through either Principal Participating Organizations or through their associate program
• W3C has several ways to engage, with some engagement being free and open to all
• nexo’s Standards are free to all but the organization does have three levels of membership with corresponding fees